"Hook" Wooden Sword W/ Coconut Guard

About: My Grandpa got me into wood working when I was five years old. Ever since then I have been hooked. I love creating something out of nothing, making something old new or using trash to make something beautifu...
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My son loves Peter Pan. It was one of my favorite movies when I was young as well and I am thrilled that it is still just as magical as it was for me. Because he is a young boy, he also loves swords... Or anything he can threaten his sister with. What young boy doesn't love swords? So I thought that a Peter Pan sword would be perfect for him. Just one problem, the disney version of Pan's sword is super lame. It's small and short and there just isn't anything inherently cool about it. So I decided to make the "Hook" version of peter's sword. If you haven't seen Hook, it is an 1991 version of Peter Pan with Robin Willams and Dustin Hoffman. It's a great movie and I suggest you check it out of you haven't already.So this is my "Hook" wooden sword made from walnut and complete with coconut guard. Thanks so much for looking and enjoy.

Supplies:

Step 1: What You Need

Small piece of walnut or wood of your choice

Coconut

Planer

Router with cove bit

Table saw

Bench sander

Sand paper

Dremel

2 part epoxy

Hemp fiber

Poly

Step 2: General Shape

I used a piece of walnut because... Well it's walnut and it's awesome. I had some laying around so why wouldn't I use it. I started by planing it down so I would have a nice smooth canvas to start with. Then I used a cove bit on my router table to put a small grove down the center of the blade. I used the table saw to take off the edges and cut the end at a point. I really just wanted to get a general shape. After you get that you can start with the finer details.

Step 3: Sanding

I took the edges off with the table saw but I wanted make the blade rounded. So I went to the bench sander. I worked the blade until it have the contour that I wanted. I used 60 grit for the initial shaping. Then I moved up to 120 on the bench sander and then 220, 300, and 400 by hand. By the time I was done I had the wood so smooth and shiny that it could pass for steel. That might be a slight exaggeration...After I got the general shape I was looking for it was time to move on the the coconut.

Step 4: Coconut

This really set this project off. In the movie pan's sword has a coconut guard and I really wanted to include that in this build. So I bought a coconut from the store and went to town.So this is one area that I am not familiar with. A few years back we took a trip to Jamaica and I was able to try a fresh coconut right off the tree. It was AWESOME! I ate way more than my share leaving very little for anyone else but I didn't care. This coconut was a different experience. I broke it open anticipating the firm white goodness that I had experienced some years ago but what I got was.... Not good. So my question is, where should I look for a good tasting coconut, in the Midwest? Anyway, back to my ible.The first step is to break it apart and cut out the edible part of the coconut. I used a chisel and a few good whacks to break it in half. After that you are left with just the shell. Using one half, I cut the bottom straight with my table same and started on the opening for the sword.I used a dremel to cut the hole in the top of the shell. I started with a guess on the shape and then I would test for and widen the hole accordingly. You want to shell to fit tight. Once I got the hole just about right, I fastened the shell to the sword with some hemp fiber. I mixed my two part epoxy and then soaked some of the hemp fibers in the epoxy. Then I wrapped it around the sword right over the coconut. I let it dry for 24 hours and then I got to work sanding. It really looked cool sanded smooth. You could still see the individual strands of fiber wove in the epoxy.

Step 5: Finish

I sprayed on some poly and then wrapped a small strip of leather around the handle. So here you are, a Non lame Peter Pan sword. The poly really made the walnut and the coconut stand out. It really turned out great and got a lot of attention. But the most important part of this whole build... My son thinks it's super cool. I thank you for reading this and I really hope that you enjoyed it. Let me know if you try one of these.